B-side "Melody Fair" | ||
Released July 1969
(South Africa) Recorded 15 August, November 1968 Genre Country rock, roots rock Label Polydor
Atco (Atco Records) Writer(s) Barry, Robin & Maurice Gibb | ||
"Marley Purt Drive" is a song recorded by the Bee Gees, It was written by Barry, Robin & Maurice Gibb and released in March 1969 on the album Odessa. It was released in stereo in the United States in January and its mono version was released in the United Kingdom in March. The remastered version of this song was released on 27 February 2009 on Reprise Records.
Contents
Recording and structure
For the recording of the song, the basic instrumental line-up of Barry and Maurice Gibb, Vince Melouney and Colin Petersen were joined by bluegrass musician Bill Keith on banjo. This song was recorded in New York City at Atlantic Studios. Two recordings are available, the earlier of these was recorded on August 15 and later appeared on Sketches for Odessa in 2006. The version released on the album was finished at IBC Studios in London in November with the orchestra. Barry later explained the recording of "Marley Purt Drive" in a 24 March 2001 interview with Billboard, "['Marley Purt Drive'] had a country violinist and banjo player on it because we were listening to American country music at that time".
It was released as a single in South America in July 1969, backed with "Melody Fair". The song's demo is entitled Alternate Mix on Sketches for Odessa and begins with a false start followed by one count but then goes into an almost identical intro. The mix is not really different, and lyrics are the same.
Release
This song, owing something to The Band's 1968 hit "The Weight", later appears on the charity compilation album called No One's Gonna Change Our World released on December 12, 1969. Other songs included on that album were "Across the Universe" by The Beatles, "Wings" by The Hollies, "On the Ning Nang Nong" by Spike Milligan and many more. Bruce Eder at Allmusic describes this song as "country-flavored".
On 6 November 1974, they performed the song in Sapporo, Japan during their Mr. Natural tour. In 2009, Barry Gibb performs the song for the rehearsal for the Love and Hope Ball. Along with the well-known songs on the album "First of May" and "Melody Fair", "Marley Purt Drive" (area code 213) is about an orphanage with 35 kids.